Library program lets Conway children take over town's heavy equipment

Three-year-old Thomas Dewar and his sister Tianna, 4, came down from Glen for the Conway Public Library's Heavy Equipment Day. (SARA YOUNG-KNOX)

CONWAY - Two-year-old Allie Kramer of North Conway seemed at home in the driver's seat of the Town of Conway's backhoe, although she had to slide off the seat and stand up to wrap her arms around the equipment's big steering wheel.

Allie wasn't the only preschooler whose imagination exceeded her reach on Thursday at the Conway Public Library's special Heavy Equipment Day story time. None of the more than 50 children who explored the cabs of the backhoe, front-end loader and plow truck were able to get the gigantic tires to turn. That lack of ability, however, did not extend to the beeping of the vehicles' horns.

"I beeped the horn a lot," five-year-old Emma admitted while getting ready to walk back to Explorations for the Young Child preschool with her fellow students.

Emma's companions, Brian, 3, and Landon, 4, agreed on their favorite piece of equipment. "All of them," they said.

The library holds children's story times three times a week, targeting specific age groups on each day. On Thursday, the stories are aimed at ages 3 and 4, and the April 25 session was no exception, with children from Explorations, Little Treasures Learning Center, Conway Head Start, and parents or grandparents sitting down before outside truck-time to listen to three books read by youth services librarian Janis Minshull.